Tag Archives: protests
Algarve A22 motorway revenue is up
We have been talking constantly about the Algarve A22 tolls and how they are not popular with neither locals, nor with visitors. But despite all the protests and unpleasantness related to the tolls it appears that the takings from the country’s toll roads overall are up, the ones from the A22 motorway being among the top revenue earners.
Despite the economic crisis, revenue from the motorways is up, according to the national road company Estradas de Portugal – EP, with former virtual or SCUT toll roads reporting the biggest increases.
Interestingly enough the motorways in the Greater Lisbon Area and in the northern part of the country saw their receipts dropping during the first half of the year, the south being obviously the most traveled through part of the country.
EP highlighted the strong performance of the Algarve A22 motorway, saying that it saw a rise of 22 percent in its income, which amounts to about a 1.6 million euro increase when compared to the same period of 2012. The statement went further in saying that the peak summer period wasn’t taken into consideration when this study was made and since that is by far the peak traffic time for the Algarve, the numbers might actually be higher.
It’s an interesting time for these numbers to be coming out because there have only been two months since EP chief Antonio Ramalho expressed real concerns over the sustainability of SCUT motorways. This is due to the fact that vehicles without an electronic tagging device which use the SCUT motorways, cost as much to bill as the amount they pay in order to use the road.
Despite these positive numbers Mr. Romalho argued that the current system is unsustainable and it won’t be capable in the long term to maintain and preserve the road network.
We do know that a new toll system is in the works for the A22, we have to wait and see how these things will evolve in the future.
How to pay the Algarve A22 tolls
We’ve been talking about the Algarve A22 tolls that have been sparking a lot of talk and protests in the region but we haven’t actually talked about how to pay the A22 Algarve tolls, so this article is meant to cover that from the view-point of a tourist or visitor to the region.
Suggested VAT rise for wine and culture may happen
We haven’t reported very much on the start-of-year financial news coming from the Algarve, but it’s about time to do so because today we’ll be talking about another potential VAT rise that will surely affect tourism to the region and that people need to be aware of.
It appears to tat the International Monetary Fund – IMF – sees some untapped financial potential for the Portuguese government to increase the VAT on goods and services like wine, processed foods and cultural events thus further widening the tax base. The current VAT for these is set at 13% and the IMF suggests that it can go up to 23%.
This assessment is part of the IMF country report which is part of the sixth evaluation of Portugal’s bailout programme.
